User blog:LexsJB/Samira the Superhero Fairy review
Hi everyone, How are you? I hope you had a good summer. I've never been a fan of superhero movies -I just don't really care for them. I don't know what inspired me to buy this book. By looking at the most visited pages on the wiki, Samira the Superhero hasn't seemed to be anticipated much. When I went to the shops on the 5th, I already saw a copy of Samira out, but I didn't have enough time to look at it properly. Because I took a peek at it, it must've made me want to buy it. So for the sake of my new purchase, I will write a review about it, since I enjoyed writing the one about Tiana the Toy Fairy so much. The plot Rachel and Kirsty are going to watch the new superhero film featuring their favourite superheroes, Tiger Girl and Dragonella, probably a spoof of the movie that brought Batman and Superman together. They see a cat that's stuck in a tree and then Samira appears and rescues it. The girls and Samira watch the new movie but the superheroines can't fly properly. The girls realise something is wrong so they go to Fairyland. They go to Samira's home, the Silver Skyscraper. They see inside her secret chamber where the items are kept, but they aren't there! Samira uses her super-sight to see that there are flying goblins around the Ice Castle, because Samira's magic cape only allows superheroes to fly, not the villains. They hear snoring, which Samira thinks is a wild animal and is in full alert superhero mode which the girls find funny and say it's just Jack Frost. Jack is sleeping on his throne and the girls try to grab the cape, which he's using as a blanket. He wakes up and flies away because, you know, villains can fly now because the cape isn't in the right hands. The girls manage to unclip the cape and fly back to Samira's hideout. End of act 1. Whilst waiting for more weird things to happen, the girls read some comic books and realise that the superheroes in the books can't see who needs saving. They show Samira and she uses her super-hearing to lead the girls to Goblin Grotto, where chaos is happening. Samira saves numerous goblins from weird happenings, including falling and trapped goblins. They come across a frozen goblin and Samira defrosts him using her super-breath. To defrost the goblin, she breathes on him. The situation is just like that moment in that terrible movie Santa Clause 3 where Jack Frost puffs and he freezes the parents just like that. Only in reverse. Younger readers might not remember this movie since it came out in 2006. Anyway, the girls spot a goblin wearing a top hat who's managed to show up at all these occurrences and they interrogate him. It turns out he has the magic eye mask, that allows superheroes to see who needs help. He's been going to all these accidents because he's got the eye mask, but because he's not a superhero, he can't actually help them. Samira sympathises with his situation, saying "I know how scary it feels to suddenly get these powers... it makes it even harder because you can't do anything to help the goblins who are in trouble... Jack Frost has made you able to hear cries for help without being able to do anything to save your friends." If you think about it deeply, it's kinda sadistic how Jack's made this goblin hear his friends' cries for help but not given him abilities to save them. Anyway, the goblin runs away cos he's too scared to give them the item. The girls convince him to. He throws his top hat at them and Rachel realises that the goblin hid the eye mask in his hat. End of act two. Back in Samira's home, the girls see fireworks from the window. Suddenly, they're scared of them and finally Samira addresses something we've all been thinking the whole time: "every fairy knows who you two are... Every fairy knows that Rachel Walker and Kirsty Tate will help her if she's in trouble. You're superheroes here in Fairyland." That's why they're scared, because without the magic lasso, superheroes are unconfident and timid. The girls follow the fireworks to the beach. Samira uses her super-smell to identify the fireworks. They go into a cave where Jack's imprisoned a goblin in a cage so he can practise saving people. Oh yeah I forgot to mention that Jack Frost wants to become a superhero called Frostman. Frostman himself appears and saves the goblin who's obviously got better things to do with his life rather than be trapped in a cage for practise. Jack imprisons the girls now. Kirsty has an idea and calls Frostman for help. He appears because the magic lasso is forcing him to appear to people who need help. He lets them free and the girls say being a superhero isn't just about the cool clothes and hair, but about how you behave and treat people. He's disgusted by this idea because he's used to being bad. The girls continue, saying that a true superhero puts other people first. Samira says that the other superheroes in the world are depending on him to give back the lasso. And Jack gives them back the lasso, saying that being a superhero is "turning him into a goody-goody". The girls say goodbye to Samira etc etc and watch the movie. Tigerella and Dragon Girl save the world etc etc. and the story ends with this wince-inducing exchange. The extract of Monica the Marshmallow Fairy in the back announced the return on Aunt Harri. I warmly welcome her return, seriously, I do. Opinions Spoilers over! I can tell why this book concept was created: because of all the superhero movies that have come out recently, and because there are even more to arrive in the next decade. It's a good marketing idea and the book itself does convey some good messages. It was quite hard for me to read this book, due to my non-existent interest in superheroes, the fact that I'm too old for these books, and the fact that the titular character has the same name as someone I detest with all my heart (but I did put that past me. It's only a name, after all). I quite liked the detailed description of Samira's futuristic technological hideout. Really interesting house features (that have been used before in other typical spy movies, but it's fine. The book's for children. I don't think they'll notice.) I thought the way the girls got the final item back was pretty clever as the author managed to twist a usual way the get items back to make it more suitable for the book. Samira, the fairy One thing that really got on my nerves were Samira's exclamations. Well, it could be either exclamations, or catchphrases. If you don't know what I mean, normal everyday exclamations would be "oh wow!" or "geez!" or "oh my goodness!" But no, the author decides to decorate Samira's speech by throwing in some very very creative exclamations in response to a discovery or anything that will take her by surprise. I don't know why, I don't know if typical superheroes say creative exclamations. Or the author may be trying to come up with a catchphrase for her. If so, that failed because a catchphrase would be something said repeatedly, such as Velma from Scooby Doo saying "jinkies" or Homer Simpson saying "d'oh". I have to praise the author though for actually giving a fairy character a personality. It's not in every fairy book that you come across a fairy who has a personality other than being benevolent and determined. Samira's lines seem to be written in the style of a stereotypical comic book hero who talks mightily and supremely, if you get me. Here are some pieces of dialogue that you wouldn't usually find in a Rainbow Magic book: *''"Greetings, friends of Fairyland."'' *''"You have sharp eyes. I'm impressed."'' **''"That's clever of you."'' Samira express her approval for Kirsty's plans, as if she wasn't expecting her to be that clever. *''"This looks like a job for a superhero!"'' Typical comic book hero line *''"But Jill Jones has forgotten that she's Spiderella."'' No context needed, Kirsty. We must know this is a kind of parody of Peter Parker and Spider-Man. And my favourites, the exclamations: *"Oh my stars and spellbooks!" *"Galloping goblins!" *"Thrilling thunderbolts!" *"Wands and wishbones!" *"Speckled sprites!" *"Vicious villains!" *"Oh my wings and wishes!" *"Twinkling tiaras!" *"Speckled sprites!" Again *"Rocketing rainbows!" *"Oh, my boots and bracelets!" *"Leaping lizards! *"Purple pumpkins!" *"Crimson crowns!" This might be entertaining for kids reading this but for me, it gets boring inserting these random exclamations. Maybe these typical superhero phrases are to define what superheroes (in pop culture) are to young readers who are probably too young to even watch a proper superhero movie or read a comic book. And halfway through when I became conscious of all these fruitful phrases, I was accidentally skipping lines in order to see what other innovative remarks this fairy could produce. For me, it was hard to not laugh when reading her lines in a low, gravelly voice like Batman. Also, it's annoying that Samira seems to be the ULTIMATE fairy, who has super-sense, and super-hearing, and super-smell, and super-sight, and even "super-breath" (I don't actually know how to explain this without revealing spoilers or sounding weird). This seems to be not only some form of character development, but a lazy excuse to get away with having the girls do nothing to solve the problems they come across. Two holes of logic *Samira's house the tallest building in Fairyland. How can the girls have not seen it? *Samira has super-sight where she can see everything in Fairyland. Why won't she use her powers for every time the goblins cause trouble? Final words For me, Spider-Man is just that dude on my friend's brother's poster that he had in his bedroom when he was like 8. When someone says Iron Man, I just think of the Iron Lady. When someone says Man of Steel, I just think of Stalin (wow I got historical). I just don't really care about superheroes, or Samira's book. But then again, you might absolutely live for superheroes and you'd get more enjoyment out of this than I did. (Upon discovering this was £4, compared to the other RM specials books on iBooks that were £2, I dislike this book a little more just because of that.) I'm sorry if this blog isn't as lively as some of my others. It's been a long year. Have a good September! LexsJBTalk 16:44, September 7, 2017 (UTC) Category:Blog posts